Gilead Sciences’ GS-0976 improved multiple measures of liver health in a small study of those with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in an open-label, proof-of-concept study.

Researchers recruited 10 people with NASH and gave them 20 milligrams of GS-0967, an investigational inhibitor of Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), to be taken orally once daily for 12 weeks.

Findings were presented at the 52nd International Liver Congress in Amsterdam.

The participants saw a median drop of 29 percent in their hepatic de novo lipogenesis (DNL), which is an indicator of the health of one of the liver’s metabolic pathways; a 43 percent median relative decrease in liver fat content, from 15.7 percent to 9 percent; a decline of liver stiffness from 3.4 kilopascals to 3.1 kPa; and reductions in indicators of liver fat.

All the adverse health events seen in the study were grade 1 or 2. None of the participants stopped the treatment prematurely.

To read a press release about the study, click here.